fresh start

Well, hello there!

When I announced my blog break, I was thinking a week. It's been almost a full month! But, you know what? Taking a break is not a bad thing. I missed blogging, I missed the community, but it was also nice to not have the pressure of putting a post together every day (I am terrible at scheduling posts in advance!).

Taking that time off also gave me time to really think about my blog/content/purpose/etc. I had kind of started to feel like I was posting purely to have something new on the blog, and I don't like that feeling. If you take a look at my header up there (and the new blog design! thank you to Five Sixteenths!), you might notice that I changed my tag line. It now reads "just this girl's story" instead of "capturing joy in ordinary life". Because really, that's what this blog is. It's just my story, no matter what it is.

This paragraph from Danielle's great post really says it all:

>> "being true to yourself. sharing your heart, your happenings, the things you desire to share, not what      anyone else is telling you to share. the things you never want to forget. the lessons you have learned, that thing your kid said that made you pee your pants. the picture you took that took your breath away. that time you felt the Lord teaching you something that you just had to share, in hopes that it blesses others as well."

So thank you for sticking with me, and hopefully you'll continue to share my story; I so appreciate everyone who reads my little blog!

{project: simplify} hot spot #2

This week's hot spot in the Project: Simplify challenge was...

paper clutter

I'm really bad about keeping papers.

I wonder if I might ever need it.

If I throw this out, will I end up wishing I hadn't?

So, I tackled my desk, the main area of my paper clutter:

Every piece of paper that had no purpose went in the trash.

Receipts and such that I need are stashed in a drawer instead of in the little cubes {hidden, not so much clutter!}.

And now my desk is organized with what I need, easily accessible.

hot spot #2 - done!

{project: simplify} update - my closet

On Monday afternoon, I tackled the monstrosity my closet had become.

Seriously, it was bad.

I've realized that I have formed the habit of "Well, I don't want to get rid of this, because I've never worn it, and I just might want to someday!"

But, my new goal is to simplify, so I worked hard to keep only the clothes I really like, that actually fit me, that I will actually wear.

Are you ready for the before & after?

{please don't judge for how bad the closet was before...}

I love how much cleaner it is! My closet has a floor after all! I can see all of my tops, skirts & dresses! {do you see my wedding dress peeking out?}

Of course, now I need to finish cleaning up the rest of my bedroom...but that will have to wait for another day. :)

{simplify!}

I've been thinking a lot lately about simplicity.

Mostly in reference to my "stuff".

Since I'm getting married in October,

I'd already decide to purge & simplify before then.

And the I stumbled up on Project: Simplify.
I'm so glad I did!

This week's hot spot is your wardrobe and closet.
Really, I needed this.

I encourage you to check out Project: Simplify - maybe you want to simplify, too?